As long snappers go, Kevin Houser was unremarkable. That may not seem like a compliment, but considering the fact that the only time anyone ever talks about a long snapper is when he screws something up, “unremarkable” is the gold standard for long snappers. To that end, he never biffed a snap that led to a missed field goal or blocked punt.

(God, I hope they’re related to him.)

And yet all the same, the Saints released him last week, even though they stand to save no money with his departure; his likely replacement will earn $100,000 more than Houser. Well, check that; the Saints won’t be saving any money against the salary cap; their own pocketbooks are a different matter.

As the NEW ORLEANS TIMES-PICAYUNE reports, Houser tried to invest nearly $2 million of his own, his teammates’, and his coaches’ money in tax credits with Louisiana Film Studios. That went belly-up, and now, so did Houser’s career:

The team members individually sought to purchase state tax credits from Louisiana Film Studios, which has yet to acquire the credits or repay the players for their investment. Many of the players had followed Houser’s lead in putting money into the project, and Houser has sought legal assistance to get repaid.

In the case of Louisiana Film Studios, Houser said he and the others thought they were buying tax credits that the studio was earning from the state by building up the motion picture project. They would use the tax credits to offset their state income tax liabilities.

But the studio project did not even reach the point of making a final application for the credits and appears to have fallen short on requirements to earn them.

In head coach Sean Payton’s defense, Houser said the investment issue never came up when the coach called him to deliver the bad news about the release.

But perhaps Payton didn’t need to bring t up, as the ever-quotable Jeremy Shockey took a more, ahem, direct route to informing the world about the mess (all sic’ed, we assure you):

you think your buying LA film tac creits. but the f***n snapper didnt… wow this is a f***ed up world we live in